“What fuels your abilities?”
“Fear fuels the fire, but strong emotions fuel my ability to draw on life. Especially…” I bit my lip as my gaze drifted to Kobal. “All things with Kobal enhance the flow of life within me.”
“Because you know you have nothing to fear from me,” Kobal said. “No matter what happens between us, you have no fear of me, even when others would run screaming.”
“That’s because you would rip the head off another,” Corson said. “Whereas hers is safe around you.”
“He is your main conduit,” Magnus said to me. “But we’re going to have to throw you into some situations where Kobal can’t be there, and they’re going to have to scare the shit out of you. I can conjure some things that will have her spitting fire like a harroc demon.”
“I’m not sure I want to know what that is,” I muttered.
“I’ll show you,” Magnus replied with a happy clap of his hands that once again had him hanging out in the “dislike” column.
Beside me a man of nearly six feet suddenly materialized. His entire body was a blood-red color, even his eyes were nothing but lava pits of flickering flames. Opening his mouth, fire spewed from him in a wave of heat I swore I felt against my face. I nearly toppled from my chair before Kobal grabbed me and sat me upright.
Across the way, Hawk leapt to his feet and pulled his knife free. Drawing back his arm, he whipped it at the creature, but it vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. The knife bounced off the wall and fell to the floor with a clattering ting. I struggled to catch my breath as Kobal loomed up beside me, his eyes turning amber when they locked on Magnus.
Before any of us could react, Kobal launched over the table, seized Magnus by the throat, and lifted him effortlessly into the air. Magnus’s feet swung out as Kobal spun him and slammed him into the wall. Magnus’s fingers gripped Kobal’s hand, but he remained otherwise unmoving.
“What were you thinking?” Kobal snarled.
“Seeing how prepared she was. Instead of attacking the demon, she fell over. That’s not good, Kobal,” Magnus replied in a soothing tone of voice that only caused Kobal’s hold on him to tighten.
I thrust my shoulders back. “It took me by surprise.”
“That will happen to you more often than not down here. You must be prepared to fight, always,” Magnus said.
“I’ll tear your hands off if you try that again,” Kobal vowed.
Rising to my feet, I placed a soothing hand against Kobal’s chest. “He’s right. I don’t like what he did.” I was firmly in the dislike camp at the moment, but I had a feeling Magnus would always have me swinging back and forth like a pendulum when it came to him. “But he’s right. Hawk reacted better than I did. I’ve had a lot of training, but Magnus can help the two of us be prepared for things we never knew existed. I need a crash course in whatever he’s got.”
Kobal dropped Magnus so suddenly that he took a stumbling step to the side before righting himself. His hand went to his throat as he cast me a grateful look. Lowering his hand, Magnus straightened his shirt and grinned at me. “Let’s get started then.”
CHAPTER 25
River
Extreme hatred for Magnus was the camp I was in a few hours later. I had literally stepped into the haunted house from Hell. Except these monsters were allowed to touch me, poke me, burn me, ice me, scream at me, and one of the little chinchilla bastards bit me.
Some of the world surrounding us was a creation Magnus had woven around me and Hawk. Unlike the carnival, when we touched the illusions here, they faded away, or at least most of them did. Mixed in with the illusions were real creatures Magnus had brought forth from his carnival. Not knowing what was real and what wasn’t made it all the more unnerving.
I had no idea where the others were. Perhaps they were close by watching us. I knew Kobal wouldn’t go far, but I’d convinced him to leave while this went on. He wouldn’t be able to sit back and idly watch as one thing after another came at us, even if most of them weren’t real. Plus, even if Morax could communicate mentally with him, it would be best if someone went to wait for Shax, Morax, and Verin to join us with some more demon troops.
I didn’t think Magnus would allow us to die in these illusions, but for all I knew, he might. Or at least me; Hawk was immortal and more one of them than I was now.
Walking through the narrow tunnel of fake rocks surrounding us, I limped from the gouges the chinchilla-looking thing had left on my leg before I’d managed to dislodge it with a blast of fire. Hawk looked as bad as me with his torn clothes, battered face, and blood dripping from a gash in his side.
“How are you doing with this whole becoming a demon thing?” I inquired as I inspected the rock walls on either side of us.
Magnus had taken us back into the large cavern with the carousel to do this. I knew the carousel was somewhere within the room with us, but all I saw now were the rocks he’d woven around us. Reaching out, I shivered when my fingers slipped through the walls. My brain felt like it was short-circuiting as it tried to process how real it all looked with the fact that it wasn’t really there.
“Okay, I guess. What I’m becoming, or have become, is better than being dead.”
“That’s the bright side of the penny.”
He smiled wanly. “There always has to be one, right?”
“Yeah.”
“They should have told me.”
“I know. Believe me, I know.”
He rested his hand on my shoulder, and I stopped walking to face him. I had no idea if the others could see or hear us, and I didn’t care. “Demons like their secrets, but there is no changing what happened to me, not now and not even when it happened. The minute she fell on me, there was no going back.”
“I’m the one who caused that.”
“No,” he said and released my shoulder to take in our surroundings once more. “It was inevitable. If you and Vargas hadn’t come for us, Erin and I and the others would still be in that canagh nest with those things feeding from us. Maybe we’d already be dead. Whatever I am now, I’ll figure it out as I go. Unfortunately, I can’t ever change what happened with Sarah.”
“That wasn’t your fault,” I said.
“Maybe not, but…”
His words trailed off, but I knew what he’d been about to say; he would live with it for the rest of his life, which had just gotten decidedly longer if we survived this.
A step to my right had me spinning in that direction and a ball of midnight blue energy erupting from my hands before I realized it was happening. Apparently, having monsters leaping out at me had my instincts taking over far more than I’d realized. I was getting better at drawing on the life around me while fear was kicking around inside me.
Turning my hands over, I drove the ball of energy into the chest of a gremlin-looking creature. I’d watched the movie with my friend, Lisa, at her house when we were seven. The two of us had hidden under covers, peeking out and squealing each time one of the monsters appeared on screen. The only difference between this creature and the movie monster was this one’s skin was blue.
Its large ears flapped when the ball tore a hole straight through its chest and flung it backward. The creature screamed as it burst into thousands of pieces that showered us with bits of flesh, blood, and some kind of green goo. My lip curved in disgust as chunks of blue skin splattered over my face. Its body flying through the rock walls briefly disrupted the illusion surrounding us. I glimpsed the carousel before the illusion wove itself around us once more.
“Guess that one was real,” I muttered as I brushed away the pieces, but I could feel more stuck in my hair and sliding over my cheeks. I was going to scrub myself for an hour after this.
“Yes, it was,” Hawk said and picked a piece of ear from his hair.
We started forward again. Through the dark surrounding us, I spotted a growing light at what I hoped was the end of all of this. Before we made it to the end of the tunnel, one of those “bea
r” creatures stepped in front of us.
“Shit,” Hawk hissed under his breath.
My heart hammered with terror as the massive creature lowered its head and bared its fangs at us. Its red eyes gleamed in the light filtering in behind it. I didn’t have to touch it to know this one was real.
Grabbing Hawk’s arm, I pushed aside my fear as his life flowed into me. A ball of energy came to life in the palm of my hand. The deep blue sparks flowed around it as the ball began to spin before me.
The ball grew larger in my hand, and I flipped it in my fingers as Pooh steadily closed in on us. Its claws clicked against the rock floor and echoed throughout the tunnel with every stalking step it took.
I kept the ball hovering above my palm before me, patiently waiting until it was close enough that I would be able to smash the energy into its face if necessary. If it was blinded, we’d be able to attack, and I may be able to chop its head off with my katana or at least hack at it.
It was only three feet away when I lifted my hand and threw the ball of energy straight into its chest. The “bear” staggered back from the impact, but the ball had no effect on the creature as the blue light vanished within its flesh without leaving so much as a scorch mark behind.
Terror flooded me as I pulled my katana free of its scabbard. My ability to wield life had never had no effect on something before. What were these hideous things? It didn’t matter what it was as it took another step toward us and lowered it shoulders like a bull preparing to charge.
Its powerful hind legs hunched, but before it could leap at us, it released a howl that became an echoing wail. The “bear” took a staggering step back as it began to tear at its chest. Its razor-sharp claws tore through flesh, ripping away muscle and bone. Blood splattered the floor as the creature continued its crazed assault on its own body.
“What the…?” Hawk muttered and fell silent when it wrapped its claws around the bones of its ribcage and tore it open to reveal the heart beneath.
My jaw dropped as that organ swelled in size. The “bear” leaned back as the heart gave a lumbering beat before exploding. I threw my arms up, closing my eyes as its warm blood splattered me.
Slowly lowering my arms, I blinked at the ten-foot-tall corpse lying on the ground before us. I lifted my hands to wipe away the blood coating my lids, sticking to my lashes, and covering my skin. Two hours, I’d scrub myself for two hours when this was finally done.
The illusionary rock walls surrounding us faded away, and I once again found myself standing in the large cavern with the carousel a hundred feet away. Bale, Corson, and Magnus stood only twenty feet away from us. They were all paler than normal as they gazed at the remains of the creature before us. Then, their eyes lifted to me.
“Amazing,” Magnus muttered.
I frowned at him, but before I could respond, the sound of Kobal’s steps ringing across the cavern floor drew my gaze toward him. He strode away from the closing door leading to the roadway beyond. I realized he’d kept his promise and stayed away throughout most of what Magnus had done to us. Every step he took was measured as his gaze raked over my bloody, bit-covered body.
“I’m fine,” I said before he could stroll by me and fulfill his promise of removing Magnus’s hands.
“You saw that?” Magnus inquired of him.
“I did,” Kobal said as he stopped before me. His eyes were unreadable as they surveyed me.
“Did I do something wrong?” I asked.
“No,” Kobal replied. “You did something no one has ever done before.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The barta demons were locked behind a seal many millennia ago. The removal of their heads is the only way to kill them. Most die before they can accomplish that.”
“The barta demon? Is that the twisted Winnie the Pooh monster whose heart just exploded all over us?” I asked.
“Not sure what Winnie the Pooh is, but yes,” Kobal replied with a straight face.
I resisted the impulse to hug him. I didn’t want to touch myself, so I doubted he would want remains all over him too.
“Fire, which some demons can wield, has no effect on a barta, as you saw in the carnival,” Magnus said. “Lucifer has set them free, and now they are a part of his guard.”
A muscle ticked in Kobal’s cheek as he lifted his gaze from me to Magnus. “They guard him now?”
“They do,” Magnus replied. “I was able to catch some of them and brought them here to try and figure out another way of killing them. My answer stumbled in here herself.”
I glanced back at the crumpled remains on the floor. “It was only one.”
“You killed a barta without having to touch it,” Corson said. “They are arrogant in their belief there is only one way for them to die. These creatures will most likely tuck tail and run if you start exploding their hearts in their chests.”
“Plus, you were using Hawk to fuel you. Imagine if you used Kobal,” Magnus said.
I glared at him. “First, I don’t think these things are going to run from anything. Second, I don’t use anyone.”
“You do when it is necessary, and there is nothing wrong with that,” Magnus said. “We all must do what is necessary to ensure our survival, especially you.”
The look in all the demons’ eyes made my heart sink. They’d always hoped for me to be able to do something, I knew, but now I saw belief there too.
The memory of the nightmares the lanavours had mirrored back at me swirled around me. I absently reached up to see if tears of blood streaked from my eyes before recalling I was covered in blood, bits, and goo. My shoulders sagged as exhaustion rolled over me, and I gazed down at my bloodstained, torn clothing.
“We have no other clothes,” I murmured.
It was such a ridiculous thing to be concerned with while they were looking at me like I was the messiah, but I couldn’t focus on being the liberator of Hell right now. It was an absurd notion. Hell was supposed to be the bad place, not the place I was working to help save.
“I will get some for you,” Magnus said. “When we return to my residence.”
I didn’t ask from where or whose clothes he’d be giving to me. I rarely liked Magnus’s answers.
“What of the others?” I asked Kobal. “Have they arrived?”
“They’re gathered outside,” he replied. “There are over a hundred demons and skelleins. They left about half behind to protect the humans.”
“Not many out there,” Bale said. “But enough to keep Lucifer busy while we come at him from behind.”
“More than enough,” Magnus said. “I will make it appear as if there are thousands of troops with them.”
CHAPTER 26
Kobal
I watched as River washed the blood and flesh from her body. There was nothing sexual in my appraisal of her this time. I simply couldn’t get enough of looking at her as she moved in the water. The pensive expression on her face never changed. She’d been withdrawn since Magnus’s illusion had ended.
“What’s bothering you?” I asked as I perched on a rock at the edge of the small pool.
She brushed a strand of wet hair from her face and glanced at me. “They have too much faith in me.”
“They have as much faith in you as they should.”
“I am mortal—”
“You are much more than that.”
“I am Lucifer’s descendant,” she murmured.
“River—”
“Just because you and the other demons consider him to be my father doesn’t mean I have to,” she said briskly and snatched a piece of the black lava rock we used to clean ourselves in Hell from a small shelf next to the pool.
The abrasive quality of the soap rubbed her skin raw, but she didn’t stop. I covered her hand with mine when she scrubbed at her right arm for the fifth time since she’d stepped into the pool of water.
“Stop,” I said. “Your skin is clean.”
Her gaze fell to her abraded skin; with
a sigh, she returned the rock to the shelf. “I still feel like there’s stuff on me.”
“There’s not,” I assured her.
Her amethyst eyes shimmered when she looked up at me. “I identify more with the angel part of me, shouldn’t we be enemies?”
“The angels may be the pricks who started all of this, but they are not our enemies. Their fallen brethren are. We’ve never encountered any angel other than a fallen one.”
“But if you consider me Lucifer’s child, am I not one of the fallen?”
“Do you identify with the more malevolent nature that drove him from Heaven and into our world?”
“Sometimes. I would do anything to protect those I love. Anything.”
“That’s not darkness. That is light. Do you wish for us to be enemies?”
“Of course not! I just feel…”
“What?” I prodded when she stopped speaking.
“When the lanavours took hold of me, they saw all of my fears, and they gave them all back to me.” Her hand unwittingly fluttered up to touch beneath her right eye. Her eyes were haunted. The fading bruises on her face from what she’d endured during Magnus’s illusion made the violet color of them stand out starkly in the candlelight. “They showed me failing, Kobal. My brothers were dead. You turned against me—”
“That would never happen,” I interjected. “No matter what befalls us, I will not turn against you.”
“But the demons will all be going in to face him because of me. Some, maybe many, will die because they believe in me.”
“Many have followed me to their deaths also and will continue to do so. It is the way of our world since Lucifer entered it. He will eventually leave this place, and when he does, you will learn the true meaning of Hell on Earth.”
Stepping away, I lifted one of the thick drying cloths Magnus had brought in earlier and held it open for her. She walked from the pool and into my arms. I draped the material around her and rubbed over her arms to ease the rattling of her bones.
“He will also continue to break the seals. That must be stopped.”
Her head remained bowed before she finally took a deep breath and lifted her face to mine. “What if I lose you?”
The Road (The Road to Hell Series, Book 3) Page 19